Alpha ‘The Hammer’ United Football club has been invited to participate in the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Club Championships and President Odinga Lumumba has made a fervent appeal for more corporate support for the team to compete.
On Tuesday night at the Waterchris Hotel, Lumumba met with members of the media and addressed issues of high cost of preparation for his team for such major competitions. He pointed out that he is nearing his saturation point of having to always go into his own pocket to facilitate his team’s preparation.
With that said, Lumumba said he was grateful for the support that he has received from former members of the club, government and some major companies in the country.
“Last year I spent about four or five million dollars of my own money and I don’t think I am up to that this year. For example the Kashif and Shanghai tournament, we just did the numbers and it cost me, personally, 2.4 million dollars [and] to spend 2.4 million dollars to win two million dollars doesn’t make sense.
“There is a limit to everything and I am getting close to my limit. I am not going to take the burden of moving football forward I have done enough,” Lumumba explained.
Lumumba suggested that unless this year’s Kashif and Shanghai champions receive “serious sponsorship and government support on board” it will be difficult to attend the championships in March and April. He stressed that his club will have to make a decision and more than likely if the country’s number one team does not garner the necessary funds they will withdraw from the tournament.
Lumumba said that should this be the case it would be regrettable situation but that will be the reality.
“We were hoping that there would be a semi-pro League this year but we haven’t heard anything yet from the GFF so that is another issue. We cannot continue to spend, for example, the stipends for my club run about 1.4 or 1.5 million dollars a month for 10 months and that is a lot of money to spend,” the controversial president noted.
Lumumba said $10 million will suffice to offset his team’s preparation and facilitate air travel and hosting of teams and the payment of players stipend. Reflecting on when his team had to travel to Haiti in 2009, Lumumba revealed that the airline tickets cost over US $25,000 and a huge cost will be attached to hosting teams as well as travelling.
According to Lumumba, to travel to Trinidad & Tobago last year it cost the club US$8,000. Lumumba said owing to the high costs many clubs forfeit participating. He said that clubs start to see returns when they reach to a certain stage in the competition but prior to that there has to be large investments from the clubs to get there.
And the thought of not attempting to participate is not an option for Lumumba. He believes that his side relishes the exposure of participating at high level tournaments.
“It is competition and you want to go there. You can’t get the best or be serious about football unless you go to the next level. That is the way you are going to be competitive, how are you going to move your players to the next level, you have to go play the best so want to get there but reaching there is the cost,” Lumumba emphasised.
Lumumba believes that there does not exist a culture in Guyana where many companies contribute large amounts to sport as is the case in other countries; he cited Trinidad & Tobago as an example. He conceded though, that there are very few large companies in Guyana and in most instances these companies are approached by everyone for sponsorship.
“We have very few large companies. When you go past DDL, Ansa Mc Al, GT&T, Digicel and Banks DIH who else do you have. Everybody goes to the same six companies for everything. You want something for your grandmother, a Christmas party, something for cricket, football and there are not enough revenue based companies who can carry the load,” Lumumba opined.
When asked whether Alpha’s track record was not enough to sway corporate support Lumumba quipped that that was not the issue but rather where the companies’ priorities are placed. He stated that some companies prefer to “put money into horse racing” and he does not understand the reason.
He also revisited the issue of the Kashif & Shanghai organisation, which is headed by Kashif Mohammed and Aubrey ‘Shanghai’ Major, receiving tremendous amount of corporate support at the end of the year. However, he was baffled that as to why the same is not obtained throughout the rest of the year.
When Stabroek Sport enquired of using his clout as Presidential Advisor to President Bharrat Jagdeo to attract corporate sponsors he stated that perhaps his “clout is an illusion”. He pointed out that if he had the clout he would have had the support.
On the heels of that statement Lumumba emphasised that Guyana has tremendous potential to be successful in football especially with the immense talent at the country’s disposal. However, he believes there needs to have the requisite infrastructure to help the athletes. In comparison to T&T, according to Lumumba, if Guyana had half the infrastructure as its CARICOM partner, “Guyana would beat Trinidad.”
But, he conceded that the twin island republic has a larger economy and that Jack Warner, FIFA Vice President and President of CONCACAF and CFU plays an important role.
It is his club’s rationale that when Alpha plays outside of Guyana “it becomes about Guyana.”
Asked by Stabroek Sport whether the government can do more Lumumba said… “You should ask the government,” declaring that the question was loaded.
